Bomb hits parliament cafeteria, kills eight

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber detonated a vest packed with explosives inside Iraq's parliament building Thursday, killing at least eight people in the worst breach of security in the heavily guarded Green Zone.

Also in the capital, a truck bomb destroyed a bridge over the Tigris River, killing at least one person and severing a link between the now Shiite-dominant eastern side of Baghdad and the Sunni-dominant west.

Three months after President Bush pledged more troops to stabilize Baghdad and two months after a new security plan was launched, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that the operation was still only "at the beginning" and would continue to involve "good days and bad days."

The bomb ripped through the parliament's crowded cafeteria at 2:30 p.m., unnerving parliament members. The U.S. military said at least eight were killed and 23 were wounded.

Among the dead was Sunni politician Mohammed Awad, parliament members said. Iraqi state television said a second parliamentarian it did not name also was killed.

A senior Iraqi government official said the attack may have been carried out by the bodyguard of a Sunni member of parliament. "Preliminary investigations point to a job inside, by someone inside, possibly a security detail," the senior official said on condition of anonymity.

The attack shocked many leaders and caused some to question the effects of the heightened security efforts. "The security plan is dead. If they are able to reach inside the parliament then we should not talk about the security plan anymore, " said Sunni parliamentarian Saleh al-Mutlaq.

Earlier Thursday, a tanker truck rigged with explosives detonated on the al-Sarafiya bridge, collapsing a beloved landmark that was a physical and symbolic link between the capital's east and west sides.

The U.S. military said one person was killed and two were wounded in the blast. But Maj. Gen. Abdul Rasool Zaidi, director general of civil defense at the Interior Ministry, said the explosion killed two and wounded 11, and caused at least three cars to plunge into the Tigris.

Also Thursday, one U.S. soldier was killed in a shootout north of Baghdad, and a second soldier died of noncombat-related causes.